Tray tables are widely used in most aircraft seat assemblies. The tray table sub-assembly is typically pivoted on a pair of arms which allows the tray table to swivel between deployed and stowed positions, for example, relative to the back of the aircraft seat. This can provide a convenient table for a person sitting in a position facing the rear of the seat, such as a passenger situated aft of a forward-facing seat. When deployed, tray tables may be used as a surface for supporting food, drink, or other items, such as for work or entertainment during travel. The pivoting nature of the tray table may be useful in allowing the tray table to be readily deployed when desired by a seated passenger or readily stowed, such as to facilitate egress or ingress relative to the seat.
Different latch assemblies exist for retaining tray table assemblies in an upright stowed position when not in use. Various latch assemblies include either a lever (e.g., which may be rotated around an axis) or a slider (e.g., which may move linearly) that may be moved over a portion of a tray table assembly in the upright stowed position. In such a configuration, the lever or the slider can obstruct the pivoting motion of the tray table assembly. In many cases, the lever or slider can stop the tray table assembly from further movement after the tray table assembly has been pivoted to an upright stowed position against the rear of the seat.
Often, the lever or the slider is positioned at a central location between right and left edges of the tray table assembly. In many cases, such central placement permits use of a single lever or slider to retain the tray table assembly in a stowed position, which may reduce an overall number, complexity, and/or weight of components.
However, in some instances, central placement of a latch or slider may pose a hazard to passengers. For example, in certain crash scenarios, a passenger aft of a seat may be propelled in a fore direction such that the passenger's head contacts the seat back at an oblique position above and to the side of the centrally-placed latch or slider. Such oblique contact may cause the seat back to twist about a vertical axis, for example, such that a side edge of the seat back rotates toward the fore, while a center of the seat back remains relatively unmoved. With a tray table secured only at the center of the seat back by a centrally-placed latch or slider, the tray table may follow the motion (or lack thereof) of the center of the seat back. As a result, the side of the seat back may twist away and separate from the side of the tray table. This separation may expose a projecting feature (e.g., the lateral top edge of the tray table) in a likely path of the passenger's head and pose an increased risk of injury for the passenger in the crash scenario, which is desirably avoided.